Physical therapy, sometimes called physiotherapy, may be generally defined as the treatment or management of physical injury, disability malfunction or pain by the use of special physical exercises and the application of modalities, such as massage and hydrotherapy, intended to improve, restore or facilitate normal function or development. A health professional that provides such care is called a physical therapist. Occupational therapy may be generally defined as therapy based on engagement in meaningful activities of daily life, especially to enable or encourage participation in such activities in spite of impairments or limitations in physical or mental function. A health professional that provides such care is called an occupational therapist.
Physical and occupational therapists have a great variety of devices at their disposal for use in providing therapy to patients. Such devices range from simple balls that may be squeezed by a patient to complex exercise equipment provided with pulleys, levers, gears, cables and other complex machinery. A drawback of most therapy devices, be they simple or complex, is that they are limited to use for only one or few exercises. This causes a therapy facility, and some independent therapists, to obtain and maintain an inordinate number of therapy devices, some of which may be used only sporadically. An important aspect of physical and occupational therapy that is not addressed by many prior art therapy devices is the importance of providing objective means for measuring the status and improvement of a patient during the course of therapy. This type of information is important for reporting on a physical or occupational therapy patient to his or her physician and medical insurance carrier.
A therapy device according to the present invention has utility in both physical and occupational therapy. The therapy device of the present invention may be used by a patient for a variety of exercises, and the device includes features to facilitate objective measurement of the status and improvement of a patient during the course of therapy.